Fate of Florida’s film, entertainment office debated

Lawmakers questioned the fate of an office seeking to boost Florida’s entertainment industry as the House moves to kill the state’s corporate recruitment agency and a host of economic development programs.

The House Commerce Committee voted Friday 16-3 to move forward with a priority (HB 5) by House Speaker Paul Renner to close the doors on corporate recruitment agency Enterprise Florida. Several lawmakers raised concerns about the inclusion of the Office of Film and Entertainment, which services Florida’s entertainment industry, on a list of programs and incentives that would be repealed.

Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee, said the office’s repeal could affect Florida State University’s College of Film Arts.

“FSU is hugely successful, one of the best film schools in the country. We generated a lot of talent from that school,” said Tant, who was among three lawmakers who voted against the bill. “And also, there are people here, who live here, who were only in the famous movie ‘Where the Crawfish Sing,’ and also ‘Bloodline,’ which was made in Florida underneath all of this. So these opportunities for us in Florida create both jobs and commerce.”

With Renner saying that Enterprise Florida and other economic development efforts “have outlived their usefulness,” the bill calls for the repeal of 25 programs and incentives. Enterprise Florida’s duties would be…